Reading Outside the Binding

IDK. LOL. TMI. If you don’t understand this phonics-based, haiku-style writing mode ask your 13-year-old. Your eight-year-old may even know. How? Because they have READ them on their computer, cell phone, or other electronic device. Yet put a book in the hands of many of these kids and the whining and complaining about how “boring” reading is begins.

Parents can help take the “boring” out of reading by using today’s technology to their advantage in the battle to get Junior to read. Consider joining the e-reader uprising. After all, reading is reading in any form, whether the printed word is on a Kindle, Nook, Droid, iPhone, or between the bindings of a cover. More and more titles are becoming available in e-Book form and in most cases the e-Book price is less than the printed book.

Here are a few titles to consider for October (some are even available in e-Book style):

AGES 1-3

Noodle Loves Bedtime,by Nosy Crow and Marion Billet, (Candlewick Press, 2011), $7.99. Babies and Toddlers will love following Noodle through his bedtime routine. They can touch and feel Noodle’s blanket, see his colorful splashes light up the page and stroke his soft fluffy sheep. A great book for getting Junior to relax and wind down for bedtime!

AGES 3-7

Love Waves,by Rosemary Wells, (Candlewick Press, 2011), $15.99. A beautiful book with words of comfort for young children who misses a loved one when he or she is away. The soothing words coupled with warm pastel illustrations offer a wonderful way to reassure and help calm separation anxiety.

Halloween Surprise, by Corinne Demas, (Walker & Company, 2011), $12.99. A delightful companion book to Valentine Surprise by the same author, young readers will smile with every turn of the page as they read about Lily and her quest to create the best Halloween costume ever. Endearing watercolors show the goofy reactions of Lily’s two cats, Fluff and Frisky, as they help Lily come up with the purrrrfect outfit to surprise her Daddy.

AGES 4-9

Race the Wild Wind: A Story of the Sable Island Horses, by Sandra Markle, (Walker & Company, 2011), $17.99. Just off the coastline of Nova Scotia lies Sable Island, where a band of horses is let go from a passing ship sometime in the mid 1700’s. The author weaves a heart-warming tale about how she imagines that a young stallion leads the frightened herd through the cold water and surf onto shore. Horse-lovers of all ages will be captivated by the story of triumph over hardship as the horses learn to survive on their new island home. Beautiful oil-painting-like illustrations capture the emotions of the horses as the young stallion takes charge of the herd. At the end of the book readers can read some pretty amazing facts about horses.

AGES 9-12

Race the Wild Wind: A Story of the Sable Island Horses, by Sandra Markle, (Walker & Company, 2011), $17.99. Just off the coastline of Nova Scotia lies Sable Island, where a band of horses is let go from a passing ship sometime in the mid 1700’s. The author weaves a heart-warming tale about how she imagines that a young stallion leads the frightened herd through the cold water and surf onto shore. Horse-lovers of all ages will be captivated by the story of triumph over hardship as the horses learn to survive on their new island home. Beautiful oil-painting-like illustrations capture the emotions of the horses as the young stallion takes charge of the herd. At the end of the book readers can read some pretty amazing facts about horses.

AND FOR MOMMY...

Then Came You,by Jennifer Weiner, (Atria Books, 2011), $26.99. Three women from three different walks of life are bound together forever in this tender story touched with Weiner’s fresh humor. Julia, a Princeton co-ed, decides to donate her eggs so she can save her father. Annie, a housewife and mother of two, decides to become a surrogate to help her family’s struggling finances. India, whose attempts at pregnancy have failed, looks for help to make her dreams of having a child with her rich husband Marcus Croft. And each woman is forever changed in ways she never could have predicted in this story of a different kind of motherhood.

DVD REVIEWS

Entertainment One has released DVD’s from the classical series, Babar, based on the beloved children’s books by Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff, in English, Spanish and French. This dvd collection, Best Friends Forever and School Days, each features four endearing tales that explore core family values like honesty, cooperation, acceptance, and patience. Also, each dvd comes with a bonus 8-page coloring book. 90 minutes; $14.98 each.